"Trouble"-maker joined Mick for "As Tears Go By" at United Center

Taylor Swift is a gifted songwriter, and she has improved by leaps and bounds as a vocalist. Mick Jagger is, of course, one of rock’s defining singers, with charisma to spare. But surely he and Keith Richards had a reason for giving early song “As Tears Go By” first to the great Marianne Faithfull. Almost 50 years later, Swift joined the Rolling Stones to perform the song last night at Chicago’s United Center. Vulture correctly notes the similarities between Swift’s current look and the young Faithfull’s, as well as Swift’s recent gossip-pages relationship with a certain British pop invader. And there’s only so much you can take from a fan’s nose-bleed live footage. Still, starting with the burst of what sounds like unplanned feedback as Swift strolls toward the mic, this halting version of “As Tears Go By” definitely does not come across as one for the ages. If you consider the cheapest face-value ticket for the show was $250, and the set list included 22 songs, then people paid at least $11.36 to hear this faltering rendition. Which, come to think of it, isn’t that much money nowadays, is it? The weird sight of Swift and Jagger performing a twirl was probably worth a lot more. Watch for free above.